The Issues With Police Boxes and Aurors
by Occoffo
Summary: Nymphadora Tonks is having a terrible day, ignoring the impending war and the bizarre memories haunting her and a weird man who calls himself 'the Doctor' all but stalking her, she's also got this niggly sort of feeling that she's forgotten something really important. Oh, and then there's that problem with the fact that aliens are hunting her. Probably. Tonks/Doctor, maybe?
1. Chapter 1

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Chapter One

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She's having a not so good, only slightly terrible kind of day. It'd started late, not that Tonks had meant to over sleep-but it wasn't like Moody could hear that over his shouts of 'constant vigilance!' So, in prattles (because it was a prattle, but only the walking sort if that was a thing [she was going to make it a thing]) Tonks, already a solid 30 minuets late, only to have everyone and their hamster (if asked Tonks was certain that was the Muggle saying) start lecturing her about tardiness and how unprofessional it actually was.

And that was the word, actually. Professor Snape had looked her dead in the eye and said that she was 'actually quite unprofessional with the persistent tardiness.' Rightly so, Tonks' mood had gone from only mildly frazzled, to 'much too early picked lemon' sour.

To make matters even more difficult, on Potter-watch, Tonks was scheduled to work with Remus Lupin. Normally, Tonks' quite liked Remus, a cute sort of bloke, bit odd with the whole werewolf problem-but easy to overlook. No, no, the problem with Remus Lupin at the moment stemmed entirely from the fact that the fantastical full moon was tomorrow. Meaning Remus' temper was high, and he would probably act like a right prat.

Not that Tonks voiced any of this, she was hardly an idiot despite what everyone insisted due to her former house. Honestly, Hufflepuff was a bloody great house. Tossers.

"You've got work today." it was phrased as a question, and Tonks nearly jumped out of her skin at Remus' sudden appearance, her hair turning white from her shock.

"Blimey, Remus." hissed Tonks, placing a hand on her heart. "Give a girl a heart attack, will you."

She shook her head slightly, her hair quickly turning back to the vibrant pink. "Yeah, I'm 'bout to be off, just waiting on Moody."

Remus nodded, and made no move to say anything else. Tonks made a popping sound with her tongue, and settled on, "Well, oughta go. I've probably got a case."

The day, which was starting to look light it would be kind of fine and nothing else, took a drastic turn once she arrived at the Ministry. She'd gone ahead of Moody in her haste to leave the awkward conversation with Remus behind, and had forgotten to eat breakfast as well.

Fast forward about an hour, give or take, and there she was, in the middle of a really eerie cellar, investigating for the old cynical witch as punishment from Moody for being late. It wasn't a real case, seeing as once a month Old Lady Muriel called in saying, 'Someone's broken into the cellar!' Reasonably, it made good punishment because nobody ever found anything, and it stopped the old hag from harassing them for another month.

She's about finished, having spotted nothing, as per usual, when she heard it. Slowly, Tonks turned around, only mildly unsettled at the creaking sound coming from the stairs. And then, holding her wand tightly in her grip, Old Lady Muriel appeared on the bottom step.

Tonks gestured her wand in the old woman's general direction, the light illuminating her features and making her look particularly ancient, what with the vacant gaze and deep wrinkles.

"I'm almost done here," said Tonks politely. "I'll be up in a minute, but you'd be glad to know I've not spotted anything."

Old Lady Muriel didn't move, or respond in the slightest. Tonks frowned, stepping forward. "Are you alright, Miss Muriel?"

She never spoke, never made a sound, but the look in her eyes told Tonks exactly what was about to happen.

The curse left the woman's wand and only grazed Tonks' ear-but it was enough. Pain sliced through her, and she curled on the floor, withering in agony as blood poured from her ear.

Tonks grabbed for her wand wildly, blindly flinging a blasting hex in the woman's direction. It didn't hit, but the explosion was enough to give Tonks room to find cover.

Angrily, Tonks canceled her lumos with a bitterly muttered 'nox', and the world went dark. She stayed there for awhile, clutching to her watch and not moving and not sure what to do, really. Old Lady Muriel might be a raging loon, but it was quite out of character to randomly attack the Auror investigating-if anything, the old coot offered a cuppa when they were done (not Tonks ever, she had a thing against her since the whole 'pterodactyl incident' [though that still wouldn't have given her an incantation to randomly try and murder someone]).

Despite her better judgement, Tonks peeked around the flipped sofa she'd ducked behind, her eyes locking with the old woman standing not inches away from her. Startled, Tonks flew backwards, taking in the old woman's suddenly feral appearance.

Her smile was a bit too cheerful with the amount of blood on the wall.

Blindly, Tonks hissed out a petrifying spell, forcing herself to her feet as the spell was dodged by a scarily agile crazy old bat. Without another thought, Tonks spun on her heel and apparated.

Her foot caught the hex, and fire spelled rapidly through her foot. Tonks hissed in pain, yanking off her boot and chucking it as far from her as possible.

It hit a trash can, knocking it over.

Breathless, Tonks laid on the cement, quite aware of the fact that she had fudged it up and ended with Muggle London instead of literally anywhere else. She stared at the sky blankly for awhile, her want out of sight but easily in reach as the Muggles stepped around her-occasionally giving her annoyed or worried looks.

Finally, when the sky began to darken and rain clouds billowed in, she stood up. Wiggling the toes on her barefoot, she passively changed the color of the nails to a vibrant orange, deciding the natural color was a bit dull. Nodding to herself, Tonks picked a direction and began walking.

Briefly, she debated calling Moody, or anyone, really, but the idea of being off the radar for a smidgen of time was suddenly all too appealing. So, Tonks prattled (it's a thing, remember?) along the road, occasionally kicking a stone with her foot that still had a boot, and woefully considered her day.

Without argument, it was probably the single worst day of her entire life. And that was considering both the time she convinced herself that she was in love with Charlie Weasley and the day she decided to become a mermaid to avoid Snape's class.

Her stomach rumbled, and then Tonks was reminded of the fact that she hadn't eaten yet. Annoyed, she blindly reached into her pockets, searching for Muggle money and only coming up with a few quid. Pursing her lips, Tonks decided the wizarding world needed better forms of communication, and looked around for a shop.

Finally settling on a smallish sort of place, she pushed open the door and took a step forward-only to trip over her shoelace and face plant directly onto the cold floor. She didn't move for a minuet, too embarrassed to really even consider that she had just embarrassed herself in Muggle London around a bunch of strangers.

Then, someone is pulling her up, laughing heartily. "You alright, Nymphadora?"

Her head tilted back, and she made a face at the man helping her stand. "Nymphadora's a ruddy awful name. It's Ton-" she cut herself off, ripping herself away from him violently. Instinctually, she reached for her wand, stopping at the last second.

"How did you know my name?" she demanded, a sinking feeling in her gut.

He blinked. "Well, you told me."

She looked him up and down, her eyes lingering on the jumper. "I'm sure I'd remember that."

He frowned, poking her forehead. "Oi, bit rude you are."

She scowled, stepping away from him. "Who're you, then?"

"Oh, me? I'm the Doctor, " he replied. "Nice to meet you."

"Well, Doctor," she said, considering the title. It wasn't common to meet a Doctor in the wizarding world, they were called Healers, or even Medics there—but hardly doctors. "Thanks for that. Helping me up, anyway."

"It's no problem," he said, looking around. "By chance, Nymp-uh, Tonks, have you happen to see anything unusual around here?"

His eyes lingered on her hair a moment, his brow furrowing as he leaned in suddenly, grabbing a strand. Tonks batted his hand away, taking a step back. "You alright, mate?" she asked, giving him an odd look.

"Hm, oh, it's just, that's an excellent dye job. You'd think it was natural." he smiled, his pocket beeping slightly. Tonks forced a laugh, suddenly aware of her missing shoe. She curled her toes slightly, hoping her wouldn't comment on her nails—for a mo, she debated lightening the color, or getting rid of it altogether, but decided he would be more likely to notice that then if she did nothing.

She finally looked up, noticing his patient expression. Her mind drifted back to his first question, and she nearly smacked herself, remembering batty Old Muriel. "Gimme an example?"

He pursed his lips, hesitating slightly before saying whatever had been bothering him. "I'd say anything resembling an uncontrollable rage monster."

Tonks face contorted harshly, and she cleared her throat in attempt to regain herself. "Um, why do you ask?"

The window shattered seconds later, and the worst day or Tonks life promptly reached it's peak when she realized with a sense of horror that it was, in fact, Old Lady Muriel. Cover in what was probably Tonks' blood, carrying her discarded boot, and nursing a seriously intense piece of wood jutting out her her neck, the old hag lunged for Tonks, and began throwing curses.

Reasonably, Tonks whipped out her wand, tackling the Doctor to the ground and wilding countering the curses. "Bloody hell," Tonks hissed, hiding behind a flipped table next to the Doctor. "Like the old woman who's been trying to kill me since this morning?"

The Doctor glanced at her, a look of confusion on his face before his eyes settled on her wand. "Distract her!"

Then he was reaching into his pocket and pulling out a strange device that began frantically beeping. Dropping into a crawl, he gestured wildly to a frozen Tonks. "Keep her busy!" he hissed, moving to what could only be Muggle technology.

Tonks huffed, casting an array of spells at the berserker.

She felt she was making some progress in keeping the woman at bay too, o she was, until the Doctor reappeared and pointed the beeping object at the old hag—who immediately dropped dead to the floor and exploded.

The Doctor pulled Tonks to the floor, looking just as baffled as Tonks felt. A second later, he sat up. Hitting the device lightly as he looked at the strange spores now in the room. "That really wasn't supposed to happen."

"You-" shouted Tonks. "You just blew up Old Lady Muriel!"

He looked offended. "It's not like I meant too, besides, she would have killed everyone here if I hadn't. And she's not really dead."

"What?" Tonks demanded.

The Doctor gestured to the spores, holding out his hand. "We should probably run."

"Run?"

"Definitely run, now." his hand clasped hers into a tight grasp, and tugged her violently in the other direction, where part of the wall had been blasted open (seems Muriel had a thing about holes in walls [though arguably the first one was Tonks]).

As he all but dragged her through the hole, Tonks glanced over her shoulder, watching in shock at the spores began forming shapes—specifically, the shape of some unknown magical creature, looking vaguely like a leprechaun.

Tonks blinked in bewilderment, finally running on her own accord when she spotted the fangs. "What the bloody hell is going on?!" she yelled as the Doctor skidded to a stop in front of a blue box.

"Goeguhm, nasty creatures." he explained, opening the door. "Basically mean, alien, leprechauns."

"Aliens?" questioned Tonks as she blindly followed him inside. She glanced around briefly, noting the size. "I hadn't realized."

"Realized aliens?" he asked, glancing up from whatever he was doing at the counsel.

She shook her head. "That you must not be a Muggle."

"Muggle," he mused. "Funny word that, alright. So, quick pop into a few hours ago, and we can have this solved in a few moments."

The Doctor ran around the centre piece, pulling leavers as the machine whirled, stopping in front of her. He passed her a wire, looking at her intensely. "You need to change your hair."

"What? Why?"

"It was blue when I saw you, off you go." he nudged her to the door, and she paused in front of it. "How do I find you?"

"Just yell." he replied, grinning cheekily. "Don't worry, Tonks, I won't leave you here."

She nodded warily, deciding that without a doubt, while it easily topped as probably worst day ever, it was also going to be marked as most absurd. With a sharp inahle, Tonks changed her hair to the same blue as the box, a shocking and intense shade that she decided would have to do.

"Yeah?" she asked the Doctor, who nodded a bit smugly (probably at the choice, seemed a bit fond of the color).

Then she opened the door, and stepped outside.

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Note: AND BREAK. I'll probably upload the next chapter soon, though you never know. I'm so excited about this story, regardless of the fact that I have basically nothing planned for it other then a vague idea.


	2. Chapter 2

Note: Most chapters will be longer then the first one—which really, was mainly just me just getting over excited and posting before I finished the chapter. My brain is completely fried, I'm running on a two hour nap and am starting to see double, I'm pretty sure Remus is OOC the whole chapter, the Doctor is barely here, and Tonks is like trlalala and I feel like I said nothing and everything all at once and still could have said more. But honestly, I've grown tired of this 'episode' and wanted it to end ASAP. I've got the next bit planned, and it'll be in one nice chapter.

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Chapter Two

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There's not a cloud in sight, a far cry from the murky outside from only moments ago. The sun hung higher too, and despite herself and her one booted shoe, Tonks felt like wasn't all too daft when she concluded that something odd had just occurred. Then again, the Doctor had just told her to hand a wire (? [was it a wire? I could've been anything really. Tonks could never be sure with Muggle technology {was it even Muggle?}]) to himself so maybe he wasn't the best person to be taking advice from.

Still, Tonks swaggered onwards, her barefoot silent against the gravel (gravel? When had they moved?) while her sturdy boot crunched with each step. The wire held tightly in her closed fist, Tonks scratched the back of her head, suddenly unsure about the whole shindig. Who was the Doctor, anyway? Her stomach sank, her mind flicking to her actual job.

Oh.

Moody was gonna be mad. Or was, probably. Mad. She walked for awhile, trying to think up what she'd say—it probably wouldn't go very well if anyone found out she may have had a hand in exposing magic to Muggles and abandoned ship after helping blow up Old Lady Muriel. Tonks comforted herself with the knowledge that her... old person... wasn't all dead. Just mostly, probably. Which, really, Muriel had been doing just fine on her own—hardly holding onto life as it was, rumor had it the toad was older then Merlin's ballsack. Though arguably would just be the same age as Merlin himself. It did sound astronomically better.

So, there she was, standing on the street corner of some busy Muggle building, hair blue, shoe gone, mysterious life saving wire, and the impending citation—it was like this, lost in thought that she noticed him out of the corner of her eye again.

Logically, Tonks did the only reasonable thing and tackled him while screaming, "Doctor!"

Hands pinned against the cement, her nose brushing against his as she straddled him, Tonks sat back, lifting his jacket and putting the wire in his pocket. Then she stood, brushing herself off and helping him up.

"Sorry, uh—who're you?" he asked, obviously confused. A far cry from the bloke that had recognized her earlier (and now that she considered it, had been waiting for her).

She grinned, sticking her hand out, "Nymphadora Tonks, but just c-" she was cut off the the shriek of a raging alien leprechaun lunging towards her.

Reasonably, Tonks screamed as the creature barreled into her, it's teeth sinking into her forearm and through her jumper. "Bloody hell! Get off!" she hissed, whacking the creature over the head with her fist.

The Doctor yanked her into a stand, pulling out what could've been a metal wand (though the whole 'space leprechauns' really threw that theory in a loop), and pressed a button (see, totally not a wand) that caused the creature to scream at the sound.

Then, he looked at her with a really enthusiastic grin, "Well, Nymphadora Tonks—basically, run!"

Despite the absurdity of the situation and that she was beginning to suspect the blue box was a time machine and the loon standing in front of her was an alien, Tonks grinned back, grabbing onto his hand and breaking into a run.

"Well," proclaimed Tonks as she ultimately stumbled awhile later, and the Doctor slowed to a walk beside her. "That's the closest I've ever come to a heart attack."

The Doctor laughed, and replied, "Nasty creatures—were you sent to investigate by the Ministry?"

Tonks grinned cheekily. "A bit. I was investigating a 'creaky cellar' when the old crone started throwing curses at me," she paused, brushing her air back to show her scabbed ear. "Snagged a few of 'em too, bloody hurt that."

"Well, they shouldn't bother you anymore—though I don't recommend going back to that warehouse or any dark cellar until I get them off planet, they'll be holding a grudge against you." he explained.

Tonks nodded, concluding silently that would be why the possessed Muriel would ultimately attack her. "Thanks for that, but I best be off. I still have to file this report. Figure out what I'll say—doubt my boss will take 'alien leprechauns' lightly. Anyway, It was nice to meet you, Doctor."

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Opening the door to the box, her hair instantly changed back to it's standard bubblegum pink. She considered it for a moment, before changing her eye color to a dark blue. She'd become fond of the colour, despite having only worn it for 20 minutes at maximum.

"So does this mean younger you will meet me in the cafe for the second time in a few hours?" she asked, finally kicking off her other shoe. It'd gotten annoying having only the one on.

"Yup," he said, popping the 'p'. He danced around the centre, pulling leavers and the familiar whooshing sound appeared again, and seconds later, the Doctor was dashing past her, opening the door. "There we are, London, few moments before you left with me in the cafe. Just don't run into yourself and you'll be fine."

Tonks grinned, shifting her face into a wide grin, reminiscent of the Cheshire cat. "Oh, you know me." she replied blithely, turning her hair purple and growing cat ears. "Wouldn't dream of it."

The Doctor glanced at her, a small smile on his features before he warned, "No seriously. Don't."

Tonks rolled her eyes, stepping out. "Witch, Doctor, remember? Bad things happen to wizards that mess with time."

"Goodbye, Tonks."

"See ya 'round, Doctor."

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Tonks' day that had gone from worse-day-ever back to mildly-okay-day had quickly evolved back to really-bloody-bad-day when she stumbled back to the Ministry, her arm where the space leprechaun had chomped on her swelling up and turning a particularly putrid shade of green—not that she was exactly planning on showing anyone. Regardless, she fudged up the report, vaguely mentioning how odd Miss Muriel had been acting, but Tonks had had to leave before she could inquire about it (really, she thinks if she had said that she helped participate in causing the old prude to explode it wouldn't have gone well).

She didn't mention the Doctor, or the space leprechauns.

Probably for the better, really. She could hardly see Moody buying into it—'Oh yes, I met an alien, nice bloke called himself 'the Doctor', helped him with pesky space leprechauns, left before they where really gone to file this report. Oh, and I caused Miss Muriel to explode.' She shuddered just thinking about the psych evaluations, and the fuss it would cause even mentioning such a story.

Tonks herself was only half certain it really happened.

Either way, Tonks left the Ministry as soon as possible.

And, once she arrived at her scheduled Potter-watch via apparation (honestly, they needed to come up with a better name [Tonks herself had grown distinctly fond of 'jump']), she passively changed her hair to a dull brown, her eyes following moments later as a soft green.

Satisfied, Tonks supposed she looked enough like Remus that they could pass as siblings.

Though she wasn't sure why, per se, seeing as they shouldn't be running into people to have a built in cover plan-and in her mind it made much more sense if they posed as lovers (aka meaning Tonks didn't have to have such boring hair). Sneakily, she gave herself freckles, and felt vaguely smug.

Moments later, Remus greeted her with a passive, "Hello, Daphne."

Tonks exhaled slowly, forcing a grin on her face as she replied, "Evening, Harry."

It was probably a low blow, but he had started it with the whole 'Daphne' thing. Regardless, Tonks merely offered a coy smile, and fluttered her eyelashes. In response, Remus gave a soft sort of smile, and Tonks felt only a tad terrible.

"I heard about today." he said, glancing over at her as they fell into a casual walk together. "Are you okay?"

Tonks nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine."

And she was. Fine. No ill effects from the gnomes, or the Doctor or time travel-and excluding her nicked ear, she was in mint condition.

Still, Remus' eyes roamed over her form in a sort of appraising manner. "You..." he began slowly, his eyes lingering on her arm. "Did something bite you?"

Tonks blinked, having forgotten about the space leprechaun getting her. "Oh," she grumbled, rolling her sleeve back to inspect the damage.

The bite closer resembled an animal's then a demented leprechaun-but that wasn't what had thrown Tonks enough for her to loose footing and fall off the sidewalk.

Her arm was green.

It wasn't swollen, or even hurting in the slightest, but the area around the clean bite was a vivid, apple green colour. Tonks swallowed, looking up at Remus and pushing her sleeve down hastily.

"How did you know?"

He hesitated. "It's close to the full moon-you... you smelt off."

Tonks nodded in understanding, stepping back onto the sidewalk. "I'd rather you didn't mention this to anyone."

He didn't say anything, but continued walking. A few minutes later, when they looped back around to see Number 4 Privet Drive, he spoke again. "Are you going to tell me how it happened, or will I have to make due with my imagination?"

Tonks glanced down, watching her feet. "Space leprechauns," she offered seriously.

Remus didn't really talk to her much for the rest of Potter-watch. Aside from the occasional word about direction or noise, Remus seemed to be quite cross with her. It probably helped that he obviously didn't believe the whole, space leprechaun thing.

Either way, Tonks made not further effort to initiate conversation, and by the end of the watch, it had grown dark and Tonks felt about ready to collapse. Once their relief came in the form of and irate Moody who proclaimed something along the line of something coming up and Shacklebot ditching him to go into work—Tonks wasn't sure, she tuned him out the second his mouth opened. Regardless, Remus and Tonks migrated off in opposite directions. The moment Tonks was sure nobody was around, her hair switched to it's usual pink. She flicked a strand, changing the color to a more purplish-pink before feeling satisfied. She decided to keep the freckles for the moment.

She decided to walk home, still clad in her Muggle clothes. Casually, she played with the colour of her fingernails while she walked (natural was always so _dull_ )—torn between something vibrant or a darker shade. She sighed to herself, before giving up and deciding on a soft blue.

She had just left the neighborhood and gotten to a small Muggle city when she felt it. Her hand clasped around her wand instantly, and she cautiously looked around—a feeling of dread sinking in her stomach as she cursed her penchant for bright hair.

It happened fast, in a way, one moment, she'd been standing and trying to find the source of the inherent _wrongness_ , when just as fast she was flying across the street and hitting a brick wall. Tonks hissed in pain, her arm, which had previously been painless, gave a dull ache where she'd been bitten.

Forcing herself into a standing position, Tonks waved her wand wildly in front of herself, throwing several defensive spells in the direction of her attackers, fully expecting Death Eaters.

Instead, glaring back at her was the frail shape of Muriel, the woman who'd Tonks had thought died after her body exploded.

The guilty that had been gnawing at her quickly evaporated as the old goat flung herself forward, colliding harshly with Tonks. Crushed under the iron grip of the woman, her wand just out of reach, Tonks was nearly certain she was going to die. Still, she thrashed wildly as the bat bowed down, l _icking_ Tonks' bitten arm, which had gone from a vibrant green to a sickly grayish colour splotched with nasty green bumps.

If she lived, she would probably need to get that checked out.

"Tonks!" a familiar voice called, sounding rather horrified. The creature looked up, a feral and deranged look in the vacant eyes as they locked onto Remus.

Tonks screamed out a warning as the leprechaun possessed monster launched at Remus. Quickly, he threw a stunner at her, connecting with the old woman's cheek. It surprisingly worked, much to Tonks' bafflement. Regardless, she pushed herself to her feet, holding her arm closely to her chest as she grabbed her want with her good hand and ran to Remus.

A bit breathlessly, she said, "Are you alright?"

"I should be asking you that."

She glanced at her arm. "I'll be fine," she decided. "But right now, we need to find someone."

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"Okay," said Tonks. "This was the last place I saw him. So, it's either there or Muriel's."

Remus glanced at the map, nodding slightly. "Makes sense he'd head to Muriel's, probably tracked it down by now—at the very least, it's got to give us a clue. If he's not there, this Doctor, then we should go back to the warehouse."

Tonks nodded, forcing a cheeky grin. Her arm was getting worse rapidly, and the infection had quickly spread, and her fingers where starting to turn green, along with most of her forearm up to her elbow. Remus glanced at her arm, his face grim. "Do you think he'll be able to stop it?"

Tonks swallowed. "I don't know. But I'd like to find out."

Remus gave a half nod, and rolled up the map.

They apparated to Muriel's, and began poking around. The first floor look undisturbed, everything in pristine condition. It was the second floor that things started looking off. Furniture askew, objects tossed about and a solid room covered in what looked like spider webs.

Tonks and Remus exchanged a look, and Tonks shrugged, pointing her want at the door. "Space leprechauns, obviously gotta have spider webs. Ups the creepy factor."

Remus gripped his wand tightly, standing next to Tonks as she pushed the for open. Inside, the room was cover in cobwebs and cocoon like objects all along the wall, and off in the corner, sat a handful of dolls.

Tonks inched forward to the dolls while Remus moved over to the wall. She dropped to her knees, grabbing a doll with pink hair. She took a shaky breath, her eyes wide as she dropped the object like she'd been burned.

"Tonks?" an incredulous voice said. "What are you doing here?"

She turned, her eyes locking with the Doctor's. A brilliant grin split her face, and she tripped trying to get up. Her smile quickly faded as she glanced at her arm, and she was suddenly reminded about the doll.

"Doctor, why does that doll have my face?"

The Doctor grimaced, looking between Remus and Tonks. "Well, I can tell you it's not good, that's for sure."

"Leprechauns don't make webs." Remus said finally. "Or dolls."

"Goeguhm, not exactly leprechauns—were'd you get that?" asked the Doctor, lightly touching the webbing. "Bit different, I'd say."

Tonks huffed, blowing a piece of hair from her face. "You said 'space leprechauns'."

"Oh that's rubbish," he said, looking mildly disgusted. "What I'd do that for?"

"Never mind that," scowled Tonks, exchanging a glance with Remus. "How do we stop 'em?"

"Her arm, too." Remus interjected, gesturing. The Doctor turned his head sharply, moving towards Tonks.

"When did this happen?" he asked seriously.

"This morning, technically. The second time I met you, first for you." the Doctor nodded, lightly turning her arm over and pointing his metal object (honestly, she really needed to figure that out). He glanced at something, looking relatively upset about whatever it is he saw.

"Alright. Not much time left then—who're you?" he asked suddenly, looking at Remus like he'd only just taken notice.

"Remus Lupin." he replied, pulling Tonks to her feet. "And, judging by the fact that you are eagerly waltzing into this situation and Tonks seems happy to see you… I'd say that you're the Doctor."

He shrugged slightly.

"Remus, nice name." said the Doctor. "Well, Remus, Nymphadora, off we pop."

He made a face, and carried on. "Erh, that'd be, _go_ to the cellar."

"It's Tonks," she remarked as she walked past.

"Nympahdora's a great name," the Doctor replied. "Very fun to say."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Tonks."

"Don't argue with her, Doctor. Tonks is well known for her dislike of her first name." Remus replied.

The Doctor shrugged, letting the subject drop as he led the pair down the stairs. He was on the top step of the cellar when they head the laughter. The Doctor plowed down the stairs, taking three at a time—Remus and Tonks hot on his heels.

Then, the room exploded.

Tonks was thrown back violently into Remus, but somehow still managed to crack her head against the wall. Her head throbbed and here ears rang, blood rushing down the back of her neck, and then, there was Remus, screaming her name as she opened her eyes.

" _We need to move, now_!" Remus' words sounded garbled, like he was underwater. And just as quick, he was helping her to her feet, dragging her out of the cellar and away from whatever it was that had scared him so much.

"Wait," said Tonks, her voice hardly a whisper. Remus didn't stop. Didn't hear her (not that anyone ever did [she reminded herself not to be bitter]). "Wait," she said louder.

Remus still didn't stop, half carrying her now. "We can't stop, Tonks. We need to get as far away as possible."

"B-But the Doctor," she rasped.

"He's dead." replied Remus with little emotion. Tonks ripped herself backwards.

"No," she said, demanded, really. "He's fine. _He's fine_."

"I'm sorry, Tonks. We have to deal with this ourselves." he didn't even slow as he spoke.

She let him lead her away from the house, her head spinning and her arm throbbing. _The Doctor was dead,_ and though Tonks had only known him for a little while, she had begun clinging to the hope that he would help with her arm and the obvious space leprechaun infestation (she didn't give a damn, they where space leprechauns now and forever [regardless of what the Doctor had said]).

Then, just as Remus began slowing down—the space leprechauns plowed into them, screaming viciously with yet another frail Muriel… and a copy of Tonks that looked all too real. Remus exhaled sharply. "Guess we know what the dolls where for."

"Can't say I'm thrilled about that," said Tonks as she pulled out her wand.

Her gaze raked over the creatures, taking note of the larger copies (clones? or puppets?) and decided to focus on them. Her grip tightened, and she exchanged a glance with Remus, who nodded sharply.

"I'll take… _you_ … if you finally get the hag." said Remus.

"Deal," replied Tonks, screaming a ' _reducto_ ' seconds later. Surprisingly, it actually hit the intended target, and Muriel exploded once again—but this time, instead of spores, there was nothing. Muriel's clone was apparently gone. Tonks felt it was mildly anticlimatic.

Then, just as Remus knocked down the other Tonks, the same thing happening, the leprechauns began screaming (or laughing, Tonks wasn't an expert) and the ground shook. Then, standing in front of them, breathing heavily, was a large, grizzly looking creature.

Covered in the same webbing as seen in Muriel's house, the leprechaun looking creature towered over Tonks, a snarl on it's face and death in it's eyes. Tonks did the resonable thing and sent out an array of curses while Remus grabbed her hand and began to run.

"What the bloody hell is going on?!" he yelled as Tonks ran through every spell imaginable—none having any sort of effect against the Mother beast.

"I think we pissed off Mum!" replied Tonks frantically, finally tripping violently enough for her boot to slip off. She grabbed it in her hands, and in a last resort effort, threw it at the raging beast, connecting with it's face.

The Mother Leprechaun screamed, it's face sizzling as the boot sunk into it's flesh. Tonks and Remus watched in mute horror as the beast collapsed, it's children swarming around it and screaming all the same. Then, in what was probably the most bizarre thing Tonks had ever witnessed, they simultaneously exploded. The Mother Leprechaun's body lay still, and as if on cue, the Doctor appeared, holding the device he had been early.

It didn't look used, and he looked just as baffled as they felt. The silence spanned for several minutes, until Tonks finally spoke.

"Whoa." said Tonks, eyeing the Mother Leprechaun. "Did I just save the world?"

The Doctor nodded, a bit breathlessly. "A bit, yeah."

.

"You don't look half bad for a dead man," said Tonks, looking rather sickly sitting next to Remus. The Doctor winced.

They were back in the TARDIS, more specifically the Medical Bay. Remus had been fascinated by the TARDIS, gushing about the technology like a schoolboy.

"Yeah, sorry about that." he said finally, grabbing her arm and stabbing her with a syringe. Tonks yelped in pain, ripping her arm backwards.

"I'd thought you'd up and died." said Tonks, glaring slightly.

The Doctor frowned. "Oh, never. You saved the planet, Tonks."

Tonks nodded solemly, pulling out her wand casually before tossing a stinging hex at him, grumbling, "Prat."

The Doctor yelped, shaking his arm in attempt to relieve the sting. Annoyed, he asked, "What was that for!?"

Tonks held up her infected arm (which was returning to normal at a rapid pace), and the Doctor grimaced. "Still hurt."

She raised a brow, "Oh suck it up. And, at least now you can cross that bit off your death list."

"I assure you, Tonks, being hexed by a witch was not placed highly on my bucket list." replied the Doctor.

"Hm, well, now it's definitely not."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Now, as thrilling as this day has been—it's probably best we return to the Order as soon as possible. They'll be worried since we never checked in."

"Nearly sunrise now," said the Doctor. "Why didn't you just go off along the way?"

Remus sighed, and Tonks huffed, answering for him. "We did have a bunch of space leprechauns chasing after us."

"Right." agreed the Doctor. "Well, I suppose the least I can do is drop you off."

"The least?" Tonks nearly hissed, before Remus gave her a poisonous glare. She sighed. "That would be lovely, thanks, Doctor."

"Thank you, Doctor," said Remus, giving the Doctor the current address. Tonks stood slowly, following them to the counsel room.

The Doctor danced around the controls, pulling random levers and the same odd sound from earlier filled the air as the machine shook. Tonks grinned, exchanging look with Remus as the ship landed.

Remus gave a sort of half wave, glancing at Tonks as he walked to the door. Tonks trailed after slowly, looking around.

"You could come with," said the Doctor suddenly. "With me."

Tonks froze in her steps, turning.

"Me?" she asked. "Why?"

"You did save the planet." he reminded her.

"But that was an accident," Tonks protested weakly.

"You should go," Remus interjected, leaning against the door.

The Doctor grinned. "You are welcome too, Remus. Brilliant, you both were."

Remus waved him off. "I've got people who need me here. But Tonks. She should go."

Tonks looked between them, unsure. "We've got a war, Remus. I can't just leave."

"It's a time machine," probed the Doctor. "All of time and space, and you just gotta say yes."

Tonks exhaled sharply, her eyes sparkling. She glanced at Remus, opening her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. "Just go. I'll find something to tell the others."

Then, she was throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Oh, thank you Remus." she whispered, taking a step back.

Remus nodded, finally exiting the ship. Tonks watched him go silently, before she turned to the Doctor, beaming.

"So…" he said, grinning. "Where'd you wanna go first?"


End file.
